


Waiting for Megatron

by Caia (Caius)



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Four Million Years, Gen, tf_speedwriting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-10
Updated: 2010-06-10
Packaged: 2017-10-14 20:52:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/153350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caius/pseuds/Caia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some of Shockwave's attempts to contact Megatron, toward the end of his 4 million year wait.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting for Megatron

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [](http://community.livejournal.com/tf_speedwriting/profile)[**tf_speedwriting**](http://community.livejournal.com/tf_speedwriting/) challenge, prompt "connection". Some dialog taken from the episode "Transport to Oblivion".

Attempt number 1,460,995,957. Shockwave activated the communicator, scanned all available frequencies, and hailed Megatron on the usual Decepticon range of codes with the same efficient loyalty as always.

He sent out the same speech he had on every third broadcast of the last 500,003,020. Even Shockwave could not always be the same, or always unwavering.

Nothing.

Shockwave proceeded his regular scans of Cybertron. The results showed a slight reduction in energy readings since his last check; this was expected and well within the normal range. The locations of energy fluctuations suggested that another group of Autobot rebels had slipped into stasis lock.

He would have sent out a salvage team, but more energy would have been expended in securing them than could possibly have been gained in reprocessing them and their gear.

It was not, after all, as if there were any shortage of materials to salvage on Cybertron, as long as you did not want energon, or anything that could be converted into it.

Shockwave simply noted the location, putting the data in storage with hundreds of millions of other records of just that kind.

\------

Attempt number 1,460,996,498. A slightly different set of codes; a slightly different (but no less respectful) greeting.

Nothing.

To be precise: nothing important. There was a garbled and clearly alien response, coming from about twenty arc-minutes by negative thirty away from the direction the Nemesis had taken, half a light-vorn away.

There had been days--long before Shockwave's time--when such a response from a foolhardy alien race would have been a clear invitation to conquest. Megatron would, perhaps, bring that time to them again.

Now, not only could Cybertron not mount an effective attack, its main defense was its clear lack of usable resources.

(And even that would not avail it, should the attackers be from a planet that was metal-poor and energy rich. Metal was one thing Cybertron had plenty of.)

Shockwave made a note of the direction and probable distance and a recording of the message, and put it in storage in a different, much smaller, file.

\------

Attempt number 1,460,998,628. The original set of communication codes; a message which had, perhaps, a little more of Shockwave's fervor and desperation in it that was entirely logical.

(But was it not logical, after all, to be desperate, when your world was dying around you? An argument that had been posed to Shockwave occasionally, back when there had been more energy to spare in debate.)

Nothing.

Shockwave tweaked the receiver for the 300 millionth time, making sure it had not deteriorated too far, trying to get even more distance and a wider range of frequencies. He called a drone over and took it apart: its services were no longer needed, and its parts and energon portion were better applied to Shockwave's receiver and transmitter.

(When this had all began, Shockwave had taken pride in preserving Cybertron as close to the glories of Decepticon empire as he could manage, demonstrating that he was worthy of the trust Megatron gave him. None of that mattered if Megatron could never be contacted and could never return.)

Shockwave allowed himself a tiny and carefully measured injection of energon. It was also not worth anything if Shockwave, himself, was not online and functional enough to hand Cybertron back to its--to his--Lord and Master.

\------

Attempt number 1,460,999,012. This was one of the days when Shockwave reprogrammed the equipment--and, to be accurate (and Shockwave was always accurate, if only to himself)--Shockwave himself, with Megatron's image and voiceprint and energy signature.

He allowed the recordings to persist for a careful careful 3.7 breems, watching and absorbing. Any more would have been an indulgence.

Shockwave could allow himself a little more than usual today, because Cybertron was passing close enough to a star to pull some of its energy for energon. Not much: only what could not be stored or immediately used for some more urgent project. Because, finally, Shockwave had a project.

A space bridge. If Megatron could not come to him, perhaps Shockwave could come to Megatron. Or at least find new supplies to keep Cybertron running in his absence.

The light-collecting technology was not as extensive or well-maintained as it might be, and neither was the building technology, but Shockwave had done and redone the calculations, designed everything as efficiently as he could, and he could make his invention work with what he had.

So he worked and he watched.

And the response to the transmission was, again, nothing.

\------

Attempt number 1,460,999,998.

Nothing.

The space bridge was almost complete, but it had taken very nearly all Shockwave had. There would be enough energon to activate it just a few times before new supplies would be needed; Shockwave would have to choose the destination wisely.

And efficiently, because even processing was difficult with as little energon as there was left on Cybertron.

Shockwave pares his message to Megatron down to the bare minimum. Megatron would not stand on formality when energy was at stake. "Cybertron to Megatron. Are you there? Send location."

It hurt Shockwave's pride to have to skimp even on that. He could not afford pride, but he could not afford not to have it, either: it kept Shockwave going and Shockwave kept Cybertron going, even when both of them should have died ten thousand vorns ago.

But the space bridge: if the space bridge worked, and if it brought Shockwave Megatron, then Shockwave would have something to be proud of.

\------

Attempt number 1,461,000,002.

Almost no energon at all. Shockwave was, for the time being, the only Decepticon online on Cybertron, and he didn't have the energy to keep track of the Autobots. He didn't even have anything worth stealing at present.

He didn't have energy to keep track of anything, except for what was most important. He had a destination picked out for the space bridge, a project that should, at least, get them some supplies, but first: Megatron.

He opened up communications yet once again, brief and to the point: "Are you there, Megatron?"

And there was a response. There was a face, on the other side, the very same face Shockwave had made sure to remember all of these vorns. The same face and the same voice, on the same Decepticon communication codes that Shockwave hasn't been able to properly update since Megatron left.

And Megatron remembered him, as well.

"Shockwave, guardian of Cybertron!"

"Megatron, leader of the Decepticons."


End file.
